Fresno County man accused of killing stripper’s bodyguard will stand trial, judge decides
A man who owed thousands of dollars to an adult entertainment company will stand trial for the murder of the man sent to collect the unpaid debt, a Fresno County judge ruled Thursday.
Randy Jones, 29, of Friant is accused of shooting Justin Garza, 23, six times during the early morning hours of March 3, 2019. Garza was supposed to collect $30,000 from Jones for past stripper services. Joining Garza that night was one of the dancers, Starla Bartlett.
Jones has pleaded not guilty.
Bartlett testified during a preliminary hearing Thursday that Garza was her driver and security that night. After finishing a show in Hanford, Garza was told by his boss to meet Jones in Fresno to pick up the cash the defendant owed. They drove to a Motel 6 on Blackstone Avenue near Griffith Way where they met Jones in the rear parking lot.
Bartlett admits she was scared.
“I told Justin, let’s just go home, this doesn’t seem right,” she told prosecutor Elana Smith.
Jones was waiting in a taxi as Garza and Bartlett drove up in a white Camry. Garza parked next to the taxi as Jones got out. Garza put his boss on speaker phone as the three men spoke for a few minutes, then Jones went back to the taxi briefly, according to Bartlett.
She described Jones as appearing apprehensive or confused, as if he wasn’t sure he could trust Garza.
Smith asked her what happened next. Bartlett paused and began to cry in court. Judge Jonathan Skiles allowed her to take a few minutes before resuming her testimony.
“Justin was standing outside of the car, next to his door, when the next thing I see is (Jones) just start shooting, he didn’t even say anything,” she said. “Justin kept saying, ‘I got shot, I got shot.’”
Bartlett recalls hearing at least six gun shots.
Garza collapsed inside the car, with his upper body on the drivers seat and his legs on the pavement, she testified.
Bartlett, who was sitting in the passenger seat of the Camry, thought she would be shot next.
“I just knew I was going to die,” she said. “Things happened so fast and there was blood everywhere.“
The taxi driver, David Abrego, also testified that he did not hear an argument between the two men. One minute, they were talking, when suddenly gun shots started going off, he said.
“I saw the person in white car, (Garza) raise his hands and say no, then the other guy (Jones) empty his gun on that guy.” Abrego said.
After the shooting, Abrego drove Jones to several different places, including a McDonald’s on Willow Avenue.
“I was thinking he just killed somebody and now he is hungry,” Abrego testified.
Along with being charged with murder, Jones is charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, assault with a firearm and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Jones’s legal team, Antonio Alvarez and Richard Beshwate Jr., questioned whether Abrego was kidnapped at all. Abrego admits to willingly driving Jones after the shooting. Alvarado asked him why he didn’t call police after witnessing what happened.
“I was like a zombie, I was just driving,” he said.
Asked if he felt in fear, Albrego said: “Well, not so much.”
But under questioning by Smith, Abrego said he did fear for his life, especially after dropping Jones off at his Friant area home.
Abrego said Jones was getting out of the back of the van taxi when he pointed a handgun at him.
“When I turned around, he pulled the trigger and nothing happened,” he said. “Then he says, ‘oh, it must have misfired, oh, there are no bullets’ and then he kind of laughed at me.”
Jones remains in the Fresno County jail with bail set at $2.8 million.
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 7:56 AM.
